Divergent Design Competence in the RPG Maker Community Trevor Owens, Center for History and New Media, George Mason University Abstract Central Questions Conceptual Context References Contact Online affinity communities are increasingly being explored as places where young people are ac- quiring new literacies (Gee, 2004). Through ex- tensive ethnographic fieldwork Ito and others (2010) found young people “geeking out” in web based affinity communities where individuals are “learning to navigate esoteric domains of knowl- edge and practice and participating in communi- ties that traffic in these forms of expertise” (p. 28). Studies of Flickr (Davies, 2006), fan fiction sites (Black, 2005), and Civilization fan-sites (Squire & giovanetto 2008; Owens 2010) support the idea that young people are acquiring critical new lit- eracy skills in these communities. The communal and cooperative nature of these informal learning communities suggests that they be understood as communities of practice (Lave & Wenger 1991). Community members develop competence and refine their skills toward mastery through interaction and engagement, and encour- agement from expert community members. The RPG Maker community offers a space to further examine these kinds of interest and affinity driven spaces. Who is involved in the community? What is the extent and nature of their involvement? What kinds of skills and knowledge participants are developing through their involvement? How do participants find, join and ad vance within the community? The RPG Maker VX Community site provides its more than 40,000 members a space to collabora- tively critique and design PC role-playing games. This poster presents preliminary results from a qualitative study of this community. Analysis of in- terviews and discussions on the RPG Maker site, combined with information gathered through a survey suggest that the RPG Maker Community is scaffolding young game enthusiasts into a deeper understanding of game design and allied digital art perspectives. The study proposes a model for how members join, advance, and de- velop new literacy competencies through partici- pation in the community. Revisit for feedback Take and give criticism Visit for resources Interest in/ Awarness of RPG Maker Make and Share Resources Design Competence Take and give criticism Start and Share Game Project Advance to Resource staff Complete Game, Start New project Game Design Allied Arts Design Domain Research Design This poster presents part of a larger multi-method study of the RPG Maker Community. The larger study uses a randomized survey of participants to chart general demographic information and in- volvement in the community, in-depth interviews with a purposeful sample of ten community mem- bers to document participant reactions and under- standing, and analysis of forum discussions and rules posted on the community site to examine the actual interactions of community participants. This poster reports preliminary results from these three data sets, focusing primarily on articulating a model of community engagement and the com- petencies community members develop. Trevor Owens Center for History and New Media George Mason University [email protected] trevorowens.org “ “ “ one of my friends, whom I know in college, showed me this site and said he got most "scripts" for his game from this site. So I guess was initially sparked by the re- sources the RMVX site had. Facets, music tracks, character sprites - it was a grow- ing treasure box for customizing and would allow me to add depth to my game. I also liked how many people actually collaborated online and actually completed video games - watching other people complete online collaboration gave me some confidence to join and perhaps start my own From Interest to Community The biggest change was not to "write as I work". Prelude to some people was confus- ing because of the weakness in the fidelity of the plot. For Crescendo, I made sure I pieced together the story in a storyboard before I started making the game. An- other big change was balancing, as there was an issue with that in the first game as well. This time I did the entire database before I started making the game. I would edit the numbers accordingly if I found a player/enemy too strong or too weak. Finally I changed the pacing of each of the game's segments. In prelude, missions were very long and most people found resting spots to be too far apart. I decreased the size of dungeons and added more save locations, as well as made sure the plot kept moving at a steady pace. I took many of the suggestions and simplified the system without removing depth from the game. Came for resources Stayed for Colaboration Colaboration Built Confidence Game Design Experience Chromprehensive Design Attention to Ballance Attention Pacing Attention to Simplicity and Depth Resource Design Experience To sum it up, there was a Japanese script that impressed me. It was being badly maintained. I took the reigns and decided to maintain the script myself. The transla- tion of this Japanese script has considered good by the community and, for some reason, I rode the wave of this popular Japanese script and got recognition by help- ing lots of people regarding this script. If there's something unclear about this, let me know ....I'm not actually a full-fledged coder, at least not yet. I chose to go into programming because of RPG Maker. Surprisingly, RPG Maker provides very good examples of basic concepts used in Ruby and other programming languages. What makes RPG Maker so great with learning is that it is applied learning. It is done in a game development context and that's not only fun, but applied learning is how I learn best. ” Impressed by users work Saw need, steped up Recieved recgonition Develops idenity as programer Ascribes idenity to learning context ” ” 19, female, California Mr. Bubble, 24, male, Portland Oregon Mr. Moo, 19, male, Calgery Canada Conclusions Analysis of the interviews and discussions on the RPG Maker site, combined with information gathered through a survey suggest that the RPG Maker Community is scaffolding game enthusiasts into a deeper understanding of game design and art and allied art and design perspectives. This work supports the following theory for engagement in the community. Members join to gain access to the resources, character sprites, maps, scripts, and other art- work. Some then engage in a cycle of critical dialog with other community members. The evidence suggests that those who persist in engaging in this dialog develop a range of criti- cal competencies 21st century skills and new illiteracies in art and design. 1 2 3 4 . . - Black, R. W. (2005). Access and affiliation: The literacy and composition practices of English-language learners in an online fanfiction commu- nity. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(2), 118-128. doi:10.1598/JAAL.49.2.4 Davies, J., (2006). Affinities and Beyond! Developing Ways of Seeing in Online Spaces. E-Learning, 3(2), 217-234. Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling. Routledge. Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Cody, R., & Herr, B. (2010). Hang- ing out, messing around, geeking out: Living and learning with new media. Cambridge: MIT Press. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Par- ticipation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Owens, T. (2010). Modding the History of Science: Values at Play in Modder Discussions of Sid Meier's CIVILIZATION. Simulation Gaming. doi:10.1177/1046878110366277 Squire, K., & Giovanetto, L. (2008). The higher education of gaming. E- Learning, 5(1), 2-28.
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Divergent Design Competence in the RPG Maker CommunityTrevor Owens, Center for History and New Media, George Mason University
Abstract Central Questions
Conceptual Context
References
Contact
Online affinity communities are increasingly being explored as places where young people are ac-quiring new literacies (Gee, 2004). Through ex-tensive ethnographic fieldwork Ito and others (2010) found young people “geeking out” in web based affinity communities where individuals are “learning to navigate esoteric domains of knowl-edge and practice and participating in communi-ties that traffic in these forms of expertise” (p. 28). Studies of Flickr (Davies, 2006), fan fiction sites (Black, 2005), and Civilization fan-sites (Squire & giovanetto 2008; Owens 2010) support the idea that young people are acquiring critical new lit-eracy skills in these communities.
The communal and cooperative nature of these informal learning communities suggests that they be understood as communities of practice (Lave & Wenger 1991). Community members develop competence and refine their skills toward mastery through interaction and engagement, and encour-agement from expert community members. The RPG Maker community offers a space to further examine these kinds of interest and affinity driven spaces.
Who is involved in the community?
What is the extent and nature of their involvement?
What kinds of skills and knowledge participants are developing through their involvement?
How do participants find, join and advance within the community?
The RPG Maker VX Community site provides its more than 40,000 members a space to collabora-tively critique and design PC role-playing games. This poster presents preliminary results from a qualitative study of this community. Analysis of in-terviews and discussions on the RPG Maker site, combined with information gathered through a survey suggest that the RPG Maker Community is scaffolding young game enthusiasts into a deeper understanding of game design and allied digital art perspectives. The study proposes a model for how members join, advance, and de-velop new literacy competencies through partici-pation in the community.
Revisit for feedback
Take and give criticism
Visit for resources
Interest in/ Awarness of RPG Maker
Make and ShareResources
Des
ign
Com
pete
nce
Take and give criticism
Start and Share Game Project
Advance to Resource staff
Complete Game,Start New project
Game Design
Allied Arts Design Domain
Research DesignThis poster presents part of a larger multi-method study of the RPG Maker Community. The larger study uses a randomized survey of participants to chart general demographic information and in-volvement in the community, in-depth interviews with a purposeful sample of ten community mem-bers to document participant reactions and under-standing, and analysis of forum discussions and rules posted on the community site to examine the actual interactions of community participants. This poster reports preliminary results from these three data sets, focusing primarily on articulating a model of community engagement and the com-petencies community members develop.
Trevor OwensCenter for History and New MediaGeorge Mason [email protected]
“
“
“
one of my friends, whom I know in college, showed me this site and said he got most "scripts" for his game from this site. So I guess was initially sparked by the re-sources the RMVX site had. Facets, music tracks, character sprites - it was a grow-ing treasure box for customizing and would allow me to add depth to my game. I also liked how many people actually collaborated online and actually completed video games - watching other people complete online collaboration gave me some confidence to join and perhaps start my own
From Interest to Community
The biggest change was not to "write as I work". Prelude to some people was confus-ing because of the weakness in the fidelity of the plot. For Crescendo, I made sure I pieced together the story in a storyboard before I started making the game. An-other big change was balancing, as there was an issue with that in the first game as well. This time I did the entire database before I started making the game. I would edit the numbers accordingly if I found a player/enemy too strong or too weak. Finally I changed the pacing of each of the game's segments. In prelude, missions were very long and most people found resting spots to be too far apart. I decreased the size of dungeons and added more save locations, as well as made sure the plot kept moving at a steady pace. I took many of the suggestions and simplified the system without removing depth from the game.
Came for resources
Stayed for Colaboration
Colaboration Built Confidence
Game Design ExperienceChromprehensive Design
Attention to Ballance
Attention Pacing
Attention to Simplicity and Depth
Resource Design ExperienceTo sum it up, there was a Japanese script that impressed me. It was being badly maintained. I took the reigns and decided to maintain the script myself. The transla-tion of this Japanese script has considered good by the community and, for some reason, I rode the wave of this popular Japanese script and got recognition by help-ing lots of people regarding this script. If there's something unclear about this, let me know....I'm not actually a full-fledged coder, at least not yet. I chose to go into programming because of RPG Maker. Surprisingly, RPG Maker provides very good examples of basic concepts used in Ruby and other programming languages. What makes RPG Maker so great with learning is that it is applied learning. It is done in a game development context and that's not only fun, but applied learning is how I learn best.
”Impressed by users work
Saw need, steped up
Recieved recgonition
Develops idenity as programer
Ascribes idenity to learning context”
”19, female, California
Mr. Bubble, 24, male, Portland Oregon
Mr. Moo, 19, male, Calgery Canada
ConclusionsAnalysis of the interviews and discussions on the RPG Maker site, combined with information gathered through a survey suggest that the RPG Maker Community is scaffolding game enthusiasts into a deeper understanding of game design and art and allied art and design perspectives. This work supports the following theory for engagement in the community. Members join to gain access to the resources, character sprites, maps, scripts, and other art-work. Some then engage in a cycle of critical dialog with other community members. The evidence suggests that those who persist in engaging in this dialog develop a range of criti-cal competencies 21st century skills and new illiteracies in art and design.
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Black, R. W. (2005). Access and affiliation: The literacy and composition practices of English-language learners in an online fanfiction commu-nity. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(2), 118-128. doi:10.1598/JAAL.49.2.4
Davies, J., (2006). Affinities and Beyond! Developing Ways of Seeing in Online Spaces. E-Learning, 3(2), 217-234.
Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling. Routledge.
Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Cody, R., & Herr, B. (2010). Hang-ing out, messing around, geeking out: Living and learning with new media. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Par-ticipation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Owens, T. (2010). Modding the History of Science: Values at Play in Modder Discussions of Sid Meier's CIVILIZATION. Simulation Gaming. doi:10.1177/1046878110366277
Squire, K., & Giovanetto, L. (2008). The higher education of gaming. E-Learning, 5(1), 2-28.
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